Bagels are the fastest-growing food on U.S. household breakfast menus. Consumers ate an average of 7 bagels per person in 1993, up from 2.6 in 1984. Nielsen North America, for the 52-week period ending Mar. 12, 1994, reports that sales of fresh bagels were about $118 million, a rise of about 34.9%, over sales in the previous year.
Sales of supermarket freezer-case bagels are also on the rise, despite the rapid increase of retail franchises across the nation selling freshly-baked bagels. Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI) reports the frozen bagel market increased 10.9% for the 52-week period ending Jun. 19, 1994. Total dollar sales for this time period for frozen bagels approached $249 million. As a result, the Food Marketing Institute now estimates that frozen bagels are the second highest-volume frozen food, after orange juice.
Heavy promotion by supermarkets and independent bagel shops is the driving force behind the increase in demand for bagels. The retention of the consumer's interest is most likely attributable to the bagel's ability to "change with the times", i.e., with the introduction of new and unique flavors and new "snack" sizes. Additionally, bagels retain their popularity because they fill many consumer demands. Not only are bagels healthy, they contain no cholesterol and very little fat, they also are versatile, providing the basis for a wide variety of menu possibilities for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
However, due to the special processing required to produce bagels, their availability, and thus their consumer acceptance, remains limited. Specifically, bagels must be simmered in boiling water prior to baking. If this boiling step is omitted, the bagel dough simply bakes up into a hard dinner roll shaped product. The only substitute for this step is steam injection during baking. Kroskey, Bak. Prod. and Mark., 29, 32 (1994). However, the resulting bagels are not equivalent in taste and texture to those that have been boiled.
Because normal baking techniques are not applicable to the production of finished bagels, supermarkets and other baked goods suppliers are frequently unable to keep pace with consumer demand. Therefore, these suppliers have been required to purchase estimated quantities from local bakeries in advance. This solution, however, has proven to be unsatisfactory since it is difficult to estimate quantities accurately and any extra bagels become stale, and therefore, unsaleable, quickly.
Furthermore, although frozen bagels have gained popularity, the bagel making process using frozen dough has several serious problems. First of all, frozen, pre-boiled bagels must be thawed and proofed before they can be baked, causing a time delay in the availability of fresh bagels. Secondly, the stability of the frozen, pre-boiled dough is reduced in the freezing and thawing process, resulting in a bagel with a less than desirable texture. Finally, frozen, prebaked bagels become extremely hard within several hours after being reheated, resulting in consumer dissatisfaction.
These problems have been widely recognized, yet there is no alternative process that provides a commercially acceptable product. Therefore, there is a need for an unbaked bagel which can be stored at a supermarket for long periods and freshly prepared as needed.